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Monday, May 23, 2011

Respiratory problems in toddlers

This weekend we experienced our first ER visit for Wilson and it was incredibly tough. Friday afternoon Wilson came home from daycare with a cough and sniffles. By late Saturday morning he was clearly sick and lethargic - ready to lay down and sleep an hour after getting up which our little energizer has never been. By evening Wilson was struggling to breathe - he was still chasing Cole and trying to run and jump off the couch, but he was clearly struggling and was slowing down.

After a call to after hours care, we decided to take Wilson to the ER "just to be safe." Immediately when I got to the ER they sent us to a room and two nurses appeared to simultaneously take his vitals and give him meds. He was struggling so much to breathe they gave him steroids and an hour long treatment of albuterol, then put him on oxegyn.

When the albuterol only kind of helped his lungs open up, they wisked Wilson off for an x-ray. He's such a sweetheart the whole time he was getting the x-ray he was dancing and waving at the nurses (he loves girls and attention so all the nurses were better than a day at the aquarium for him). The x-ray showed Wilson didn't have pnemonia (hurray) but he was still struggling, so they made us check in. Through the night they gave Wilson oxygen and albuterol treatments - finally, Sunday at 2pm we were allowed to check out.

I HATE giving our boys prescription meds and was hesitant about the albuterol. When I got home from the hospital (I got home and Matt went to be with Wilson on Sunday), Cole and I scrubbed the entire house (OK, I cleaned and Cole sat on the broom and vacuum saying "Wishon?..." while pointing at the door alternating with "mesh" pointing at the floor). We're seeing the prescribed treatment out because we do NOT want our baby back in the hospital and we're also on the hunt for what's going to help.

I have to say, Wilson handled being in the hospital and sick a lot better than me. Bringing him in and seeing him hooked up to a machine, I wept. Wilson on the other hand had a ton of fun playing with all his new friends and getting to watch tv for the first time.